Book description
The author of Common Sense and The Rights of Man, a
radical on the run from the law in London, a founding father of the
United States of America, a senator of revolutionary France, Thomas
Paine alone claims a key role in the development of three modern
democracies. He was a walking revolution in human form - the most
dangerous man alive. But in death Paine's story turns truly bizarre -
his bones were taken from New York to London and eventually
disappeared. In Paris, London and New York, in bars, grocers, shops
and national libraries, crossing paths along the way with, among
others, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, William Cobbett, Walt
Whitman, Charles Darwin and even Lord Bryon, Paul Collins sets himself
the challenge of finding out what happened to Paine's bones, and ends
up telling one of the most extraordinary stories of modern history.
Paul Collins is the author of Sixpence House and Not
Even Wrong: A Father's Journey into the Lost History of Autism.
He edits the Collins Library for McSweeney's Books, and his work has
appeared in New Scientist, the Village Voice, and
Business 2. 0.
